Whirlwinds of Broken Souls
by AStitchedUpHeart
Summary: Padma Patil was always the quiet one: she was the listener to Parvati's talker, the calm to Parvati's storm. More often than not, people had come to her for comfort and solace. After the battle she was yet again in that role, albeit reluctantly this time.


**Warning: Mention of self-harm**

_**Written for the Title Swap Competition, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes: Instant Darkness Powder and The Fanfiction Project: Audition**_

**Whirlwinds of Broken Souls**

Padma Patil was always the quiet one; she was the listener to Parvati's talker, the calm to Parvati's storm. More often than not, people had come to her for comfort and solace. After the battle she was yet again in that role, albeit reluctantly this time.

~o~

It was hard seeing her sisters best friend lay almost motionless on a hospital bed. Shiny pink scars laced themselves almost elegantly across Lavender's neck and upper back, intricately forming little knots and trailing away to the palest of silver tendrils, threatening to disappear into the white linen towel placed over the lower part of her body. She stirred slightly as she heard the steps of Padma's feet. 'Am... am I human?' she murmured.

'Of course you are Lav,' Padma replied, with an accompanying gentle touch upon her hand.

'But...Greyback? I think he was there...' Lavender's eyebrows furrowed, a result of both confusion at what happened, and the pain she was obviously in.

'No matter the consequence, you'll always be human to us.'

~o~

She spotted Dennis Creevey, staring blindly through his tear-filled eyes towards his older brother: the boy who had always been there for him. She could see the pain etched on his youthful face, willing Colin to show some sign of recognition. However, his mouth would do no more smiling, those eyes no more blinking. She walked towards the brothers and slowly closed the eyelids over Colin's lifeless eyes. 'There,' she said softly, 'now he could be sleeping.'

She held the young boy long after he had cried himself to sleep.

~o~

Padma was alerted by a sharp hiss of pain coming from behind her. She turned just as Anthony Goldstein was about to pull a jagged shard of glass across his wrist for the second time. 'STOP!' she screamed, he jumped and dropped the glass. It shattered and formed teardrops that glistened in his blood. 'Why are you doing this?' she asked him as she waved her wand. Sutures appeared where the tip met the skin, she carefully sealed the cut and scourgified the blood off his wrist.

'I wanted... to feel pain. I felt... so guilty. I'm not hurt, nobody I truly love has died. I felt so out of place... so it seemed like the appropriate thing to do.' he hung his head and Padma thought she saw real teardrops, they soon joined the shards on the blood-stained floor below.

'Oh, Anthony.'

'It was unwise for me to stoop so low... I'm so sorry.' he wiped the tears away.

'I understand: emotions are all over the place at the moment. Just find something to do, anything. Don't you want to become a healer? Madam Pomfrey is going to need all the help she can get.'

'I knew there was a reason why I fell for you, thank you Padma. I'll see if I can find her' he said sincerely as he walked off, but not before placing a small kiss upon her blushing cheek.

~o~

Perhaps the most heart-breaking moment was when she saw Susan Bones next to the body of Ernie Macmillan. She reached into his shirt and pulled something out, it was a necklace with a ring hung on it. Slowly she unclasped it and transferred the ring onto her own necklace, where it joined an identical one. Padma gasped as she realised what this meant; she knew that the two were together but they had taken it upon themselves to further their involvement. She had to admire the nerve of them, getting married right under the nose of the Carrows was daring at the least. Susan pressed her lips to those of her dead husband and clutched his hand. This was a much too private moment, so Padma quickly walked away.

~o~

A hiccup. A solitary hiccup was all Padma needed to know that there was something wrong with her Head of House. As she neared him however, she saw the glazed eyes and the unsteady stance. 'Miss Patil! Do you know what? I hate Severus Snape right now, he was on our side yet he let all that happen this past year. Do you know how that makes me feel?' he swayed on his feet, and leant up against the leg of a table.

'Don't you think you should leave the firewhiskey alone Professor? There are people who need help-'

'Don't tell me what to do Miss Patil.' he slurred, pointing an unsteady hand at her. She raised an eyebrow. 'Maybe you're right. I'll just settle down...' he fell down into a corner 'here.'

Professor Flitwick was soon asleep, gently snoring.

~o~

Padma was aware that a large number of underage students had come back to fight, but she hadn't known how young some of them had been. She saw third-year Orla Quirke shaking and throwing up by the Entrance Hall, she hurried over. 'Padma! I was so scared! I thought I was going to die!' Orla sobbed into Padma's side, her body shuddering uncontrollably.

'Shh Orla, it's over now. It's all over.'

'It's over for you, but not for me. I saw them die, all of them: Stewart, Emma, Laura, Owen. I can't get them out of my mind! And it's all my fault!'

'It's not your fault-'

'But it is, I hid. I didn't help and now they're all dead!' the girl was now hysterical and Padma knew that it wouldn't be long before Orla was sick again.

'Honestly Orla, it's not your fault. Come on, let's get you a Calming Draught' Padma steered the crying girl towards the dungeons.

~o~

If there was one person that Padma didn't _want_ to see it was George Weasley. She had heard the news about Fred and knew that she _needed_ to see him. The Weasleys and the Patils had been the only twins during her time at Hogwarts. If there was one person who could at least comprehend what he was feeling right now, it would be her. He seemed to have lost the ability to talk. Padma knew that, metaphorically speaking, the twins had shared a larynx; they had finished each others sentences more often than not. She knew that he didn't dare talk for fear of there not being anyone there to complete it. His silence propelled her into a sense of reality though; this was how she should be feeling.

~o~

Padma was finally courageous enough to see her sister, to stop hiding behind the pain of other people and face the sorrow herself. If she hadn't known what to look for in Parvati's face she would have struggled to recognise her, so badly was it disfigured. All she could do was stare; her body felt numb, was this really her sister lying there barely recognisable? She wouldn't believe it, so she turned her back and walked. And walked.

~o~

Padma Patil was always the quiet one, the listener to Parvati's talker. Now she had to be both.


End file.
